Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-08-12

regret that we had no means Oh getting
them away No doubt they had once been
the entrances to palace, of which, how
ever, no traces were now to be seen, unless,
indeed, they lay under the rising mound.
Gone! quite gone! the way that every
thing must go. Like the mobiles and the
ladies who lived within their gates, these
cities have had their day; and now they
are as Babylon and Nineveh, and as Lon
don and Paris will one day be. Nothing
may endure; that is the memorable law.
Men and women; empires and cities;
thrones, principalities, and powers; noun
tains, rivers, and unfathomed seas; worlds,
spaces and universeS-all have their day,
and all must go. In this ruined and for
gotten place the moralist may behold
symbol of the universal destiny. For this
system of ours allows no room for standing
still nothing can lOiter on the road and
check the progress Of things upward to-
ward Life, or the rush of things downward
toward Death. The stern policeman, Fate.
moves us and them on, on, uphill and
downhill and across the level; there is nc
resting place for the weary feet, till at last
the abyss swallows us, and from the shores
of the TransitOry we are hurled into the
Sea of the Eternal.
AL bNdTEd we Idtl Il NlOltul W III
the head man of the bearers we had hired
to go as far as this, and who Row wished to
extort large extra payment from us. In
the result he threatened TO set the Masa.
about whom more anOn-on to us. That
night he, with all our hired bearers, bolted,
stealing most Of the goods which had been
intrusted to them to carry. Luckily, how
ever, they had not happened to steal om
rifles, ammunition, and personal effects
not because Of any delicacy of feeling on
their part but owing to the fact that they
CHANGED to be in the charge Of the Wax
waits After that, it was clear TO us that
we had had enough of caravans and OF
bearers. Indeed we had not much left foI
n caravan to carry. And yet, how were we
TO get On2
1t was Good who solved the question
Here is water he said, pointing to the
Tana river "and yesterday | saw IL party
OF natives hunting hippopotami in canoes
| understand that Mr. Mackenzie ; mission
station is on the Tana river. Why not get
into canoes and paddle up to it,
This brilliant suggestion was, needless
to say, received with acclamation; and |
instantly set to work To buy suitable
canoe. from the surrounding natives. ]
succeeded, after It dr.ay Of three days, in
obtaining two larg' ones, each followed
out of a single log of some li9lt wool, aid
capable Of holding six people and baggage.
For these two canoes we had To pay nearly
all our remaining cloth, and also many
other articles.
On the day following our purchase of
the two canoes we effected u start. In the
first canoe were Good, Sir Henry, and three
Of our Wakwaf followers; in the second,
myself, Gmslopogaas, and the other two
NskwaiiS. As our course laid up stream,
we had To keep four paddles nj work in each
canoe, which meant that the whole lot of
use, except Good, had To row away like
galley slaves; and very cXhaUstinG work it
was. | say except Good, for, of course,
the moment that Good got into boat his
foot was on his native heath, and he took
command of the party. And oh, my word,
didn't he work us, On shore, Good is
gentle, mild-mannered man. and given to
iocosity; but, as we found to our cost, Good
in Il boat was perfect demon. To begin
with, he knew all about it, and we didn't,
On all nautical subjects, from the torpedo
fittings of a man-Of-war down to the best
way of handling a paddle on IN African
canoe, he was perfect mine of infOrma-
ton, which, to say the least of it, we were
not. Also his ideas of discipline were of
the sternest, and, in short he came the
royal naval officer over us pretty consider
ably, and paid ia out amply for all the
chntf we were wont to treat him to on land;
but, on the other hand, | am bound to say
that he managed the boats admirably.
After the first day Good succeeded, with
help of some cloth and u couple of poles.
in rigging up sail i'll each canoe, which
lightened our labOrs not little. But the
current ran very strong against us and at
the best we were not able to make more
than twenty miles day. Our plan was to
start at dawn, and paddle along till about
half past ten, by which time the sun got too
hot To allow of further cXertiOn Then we
mOOrCd our canoes to the bank, and ate our
frugal meal; after which we slept or other
wise amused ourselves till about three
O'Clock, when we again started, and rowed
till within an hour of shutdown, when we
called halt for the night On landing in
the evening, Good would at once set to
work, with the help of the Askari to build
n little 'scherm, or small incloSure, fenced
with thorn bushes, to light fire |, with
Sir Henry and UmslopogaaS, would go out
To shoot something for the pot Generally
this was an easy task, for all sorts of game
nbouudcd on the banks of the Taua One
night Sir Henry shot a young Cow-giratlc,
of which the marrow bones were excellent;
on another got couple of WaterbuCk,
right and left; and once, to his own intense
satisfaction, UmslopogaaS (who, like most
LulUS, was vile shot with rifle managed
To kill a fine fat Gland with bullet from a
Martini | had lent him. Sometimes we
varied our food by shooting some guinea
fowl, or bush bustard, (paau(-both of
which were numerouS-with shotgun, or
by catchiu supply of beautiful yellow
fish, with which the waters of the Tana
swarmed, and which form, | believe, one
of the chief food-supplies of the crocodileS.
Three days after our start an ominous
incident occurred. We were just drawing
into the bank to make our camp. us usual
for the night, when we caught sight of II
figure standing on "A little knoll not forty
yards away, and intently watching our APP
proHCh. One glance was sutliCient-al-
though ! was personally unacQuanted
with ,hc tribc-to tell me that he was a
Nasal tirUorau, or young warrior Indeed,
had had any doubts, they would have
quickly been dispei!ed by the terrified eiac.
ously from the lips of our Wakwafi follow.
ers, who are, as think have said them
selves bastard Nasal
And what Il figure he presented as ne
stood there in his savage war-gear, Ac-
custumed rs ! have been to savages all NV
life, do not think that have ever before
seen anything quite 50 ferocious or awe
inspiring To begin with the man was
enormously tall, quite as tall as Umslopo-
gaas, should say, and beautifully, though
somewhat slightly, shaped; but with the
face of a devil In his right hand he held
n spear about five and IL half feet long the
blade being two and half feet in length,
by nearly three inches in width. and hay
ing an iron spike at the end Of the handle
that measured more than n foot. On his
left arm WAS a large and well-made ellipti-
cal shield of buffalo hide, on which were
painted strange, Misunderstanding devices
On hi, shoulders was a huge cape of hawks
feathers, and round his neck WAS a
''naibere, or strip OF cotton, about seven.
teen feet long, by one and half broad,
with stripe of color running down the
middle of it The tanned goatskin robe
which formed his ordinary attire in time. o.
peace, was tied lightly round his waist, 80
rs 70 serve the purposes OF belt. and
through it were stuck, on the right and
left sides, respectively, his short. pear.
shaped sine or sword, which is made Of q
single piece of steel and carried in wood
en- sheath, and an enormous knobkerrie
But perhaps the most remarkable feature
of his attire consisted of a head-dreSs Of
4. 8.